Phantom
by Joliet113
Summary: Based loosely on Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. After reading Ghost T.'s journal, Mario is cursed with an irreversible fate. Just a quick one-shot I have been working on.


It was just out of curiosity. Who wouldn't want to take a peek inside someone's journal; a ghost's, for that matter? Of course, he made the mistake of doing so - and regretted every second of it.

Mario swallowed hard as he stared down at the ground in shock. His lifeless body was strewn on the plush carpet flooring of the train, and a small spirit hovered innocently over it.

Glancing up, the spirit looked directly at Mario and smirked. The Toad's beady eyes shone with despicable delight as he eyed Mario up and down.

"Now look what you've done," Ghost T. chuckled, waving a hand over the entire predicament. "Should'a thought about it before you did it!" He sang out before disappearing completely - leaving Mario alone to watch the rest of the scene unfold.

Goombella, his partner, had cautioned him about Ghost T.'s warning, but Mario didn't heed to her sensible prediction. Instead, he disregarded the ghost's request and read his journal anyway. Why was he stupid enough to do that?

Sighing, he bit his lip. Goombella was trying in vain to wake his soul-deprived corpse, and small tears were streaming from her eyes. There had to be a way to fix everything; to make it better _somehow. _Leaning in closer to her, Mario put a cold hand on her shoulder.

She couldn't feel him there, nor see him at all. He was completely invisible to the living. Shuddering, he pulled back and placed his face in his hands. This wasn't what he asked for. How was he going to save Princess Peach in _this _form?

_I can't now, _he told himself miserably. _I'm cursed to remain like this. _He sighed once again as he glanced down at his feet.

A frightened gasp escaped his lips. Where _were_ his feet? They appeared to have been replaced by what looked like a tail. His body had taken the form of any normal ghost.

Suddenly, in an act based purely on fear, he got down next to his body and began to shake it furiously.

"C'mon, Mario! Wake up!" He urged, but it was no use. Goombella's head jerked up and she stared straight in his direction. A small glimmer of hope danced in his transparent, cold blue eyes. Could she see him now?

"Wha… what's going on?" She choked, looking around the room. Her gaze landed back on Mario's unmoving body. "Mario…? Can you hear me?"

The specter closed his eyes. _Yes I can hear you. _But clearly, she was not talking to him. Withdrawing from the scene, Mario hung his head and looked out of the window at the bright blue sky outside. The sun seemed to be mocking him - as the beautiful weather did not soothe his crushed spirit.

More commotion from the hallway reached his ears as a worker on the train took notice of what happened. Glancing behind him, Mario watched as several train workers dragged his body out of the car. Goombella stood in the center of the hall; her visage displaying total horror. Shaking her head, she sniffed as several salty teardrops raced down her cheeks.

"This can't be happening," she muttered almost incoherently. "We… we can't do this without him…"

Mario had finally had enough. Effortlessly, he slipped out of the train and stared blankly as it continued down its ordained path far out into the horizon. The _Excess Express_ eventually disappeared out of view, and Mario carefully observed his current surroundings as he attempted to concoct a plan of action.

Should he go back to the kingdom? And even if he did, what was the point? No one would see him, anyway. Also, what would become of the Princess with no one there to save her?

Looking himself over once again, he closed his eyes as the burning fire of rage began to course through his bloodless veins. He didn't _want_ to stay like this.

His breathing gradually dropped down to a seething hiss. Frustration bubbled up inside him and, without warning, a small fireball escaped through his pallid fingers - which in turn crashed into a nearby boulder and ruthlessly blew it to a million fragments.

"_Merda!_" He cursed out loud. His eyes instantly began to sting as a result of his anger. This was all his fault. He knew it.

Throwing another fireball at the ground, Mario whipped around and flew as far away as he could from the train tracks, hoping that he would, along the way, stumble upon someone he knew; or even someone who could simply see him in his spectral form. Maybe that person would even act as his sole companion while he was stuck in the solitaire state of immortality.

But the hero of the Mushroom Kingdom had already sealed his fate: he would be destined to remain a wandering spirit for the rest of eternity - an entire dimension apart from everyone he cherished so deeply. Regret and misery would haunt him for the rest of his existence.

Mario finally made up his mind. He would hide from all animate beings to prevent the likeliness of an innocent soul being spooked by his appearance.

Making way for the woods, he vanished from sight - not one person heard from, nor saw him for many years to come, but the tenacious presence and unrivaled legacy of Super Mario would never be left unrecognized in the Mushroom Kingdom.

* * *

><p>((Author's Note:))<p>

After watching a scene from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, this one segment stuck out in my mind. Ghost T.'s request for Mario to return his journal could be easily carried out in-game, but if you're curious enough to read it, Ghost T. will quickly end your game - resulting in an instant game over.

Reversely, if you return the journal without reading it, Ghost T. makes a comment that if Mario had read the journal, he would be cursed to inherit a phantom's body for eternity. In other words, Ghost T. would have killed him.

The idea just seemed to hit me. What would it be like if that _did_ happen to Mario? How would he react? With that idea in mind, this one-shot was born.

I understand that Mario can have several partners in-game, but I decided on Goombella. If she's not one of your favorites, then too bad for you, I guess. I'm not trying to please everybody.

Anyway, I hope you liked it. I know it's short, but I didn't feel that it needed to be elongated in any way. Thanks for reading!

-Joliet


End file.
